Father of the Year

Producer Sherwood Schwartz's favorite episode, and rightly so. A poignant story all about Marcia's new dad.

Very true, we all forgot the girls' real father had died and the guys' mom had passed. So this episode, all about Marcia nominating Mike as "father of the year," was very special, wonderfully acted by Maureen McCormick.

You can tag this an awkward Murphy's Law lesson since Marsha has to jump through lots of hoops to get what she wants. First, she has to keep the whole thing SECRET. That alone is tough, and this is when Marsha gets in trouble for breaking household rules -- like sneaking out the bedroom window at night to mail the essay before the deadline. Lots of poetic license applied, considering the post office is closed!

She can't tell Mike the real reason and gets grounded. Worse! Not allowed to go on a family ski trip. You know, it's going to work out -- however it's a long, bumpy ride to the end and you feel sorry for Marcia.

CAMP SCENE; the kids practicing skiing down a long, slippery plywood board. How many of us tried this at home, but weren't supposed to???

Skip Webster, who worked on many sitcoms, wrote the story with lots heart. Skip later became senior writer for FANTASY ISLAND.

SEASON 1 EPISODE 14 remastered Paramount dvd box set. All five seasons are also in one classic box, choice of the way cool 70s purple or green shag rug cover.

When Marcia finds out that the letter is supposed to be postmarked by a certain date she goes out late at night on the postmark due date and puts it in the mailbox. Now at that late hour the post office is closed and presuming that where ever the contest is being held (I forget) would be close enough to be delivered by the next day. Now a letter that is put in a mailbox at that late hour isnt going to be picked up until the next day. Now if I rememeber it right they said the letter was postmarked the day before? How is that possible if the letter was put in a mailbox was put into a mailbox that late at night be postmarked by midnight on the same day. In reality the letter would be picked up sometime the next day when the letter carrier wont be there until the next day. Now if I remember right the people said the letter just made it time being postmarked the day before. Now how is it possible for a letter be delivered the next day if it was put in the mailbox late at night the day before that wont be picked up the next day? That is what I been wondering all these years.

Lead in this episode: Marcia Marcia decides to nominate Mike into the "Father of the year" contest that the local newspaper is sponsoring. In the process, she gets into all sorts of trouble. First, She is given extra chores to do for violating bedtime regulations. Then when she doesn't do them, Mike grounds her for a week. She have stay in her room during that time. Then She reads in the paper that the deadline for entries for the contest is the next day, so she sneaks out the window in the middle of the night to mail the letter.

Mike & carol plan to take the family on a ski trip, but Marcia is caught coming back in the house by the window and now Marcia have to stay with her grand parents instead of going on the ski trip.

Now it all depends on whether Mike wins the "Father of the year" Award or not. Does he win, or will it be the worst year in Marcia's life? Watch and find out.

This is one of the best episodes of the first season.